Apple's Carpool Karaoke Wins Short Form Emmy Award

Apple on Sunday won its first Primetime Emmy for original content, landing the accolade for Apple Music’s Carpool Karaoke, which won Outstanding Short Form Variety Series at this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards (via Deadline).

Carpool Karaoke began as a viral segment on CBS’ The Late Late Show With James Corden, before Apple acquired the rights in 2016 to develop an offshoot that it would initially make available in 2017 for Apple Music subscribers to watch. This year Apple added the series to the iOS TV app and the Apple TV, making it free to watch for device owners.

“To try and do a Carpool Karaoke series without James Corden was a tricky thing,” Carpool Karaoke executive producer Ben Winston said as he accepted the award on stage. “I think this might be Apple’s first Emmy!”

Corden has appeared in a couple of episodes produced for Apple Music, but Apple’s version mainly features celebrities in the driver’s seat originally occupied by Corden, with other celebrities coming along for the ride. Guest pairings have included Shakira and Trevor Noah, Shaquille O’Neal and WWE star John Cena, and Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams.

Last year, the series made headlines when an episode featuring the Linkin Park crew was recorded just a week before lead singer Chester Bennington’s death. Apple renewed the series for a second season in February and has since aired a few new episodes with the cast of the movie TAG and Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden from Westworld.

The show was one of Apple’s first efforts at an original series, along with the ill-fated Planet of the Apps, which did not get renewed for a second season following rather mixed reviews.